Note 233-3 — Chapter II

Latus clavus of the Roman senators; annulus of the knights. In the latter middle age, the knights were wont to be allowed to wear gold, and esquires only silver; the former, damask; the latter, satin or taffeta; but when the esquires also used damask, velvet was reserved for the knights alone. St. Palaye, Das Ritterwesen, by Klüber, IV, 107; II, 153 seq. But towards the end of the middle ages many sumptuary laws were enacted in cities by plebeian jealousy of the rich. The Venetian sumptuary laws were passed on account of the anxiety of the state that some rich men might shine above the rest of the oligarchs.